North Melbourne defender Nathan Grima says it doesn’t matter who’s on Adelaide’s twin towers Kurt Tippett and Taylor Walker if the Roos don’t win the battle of the midfield.
The Kangaroos are desperate for a win against Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Sunday to keep their AFL top-eight hopes alive.
They’ve beaten Adelaide in their last two outings, both in Melbourne, and last year their round 11 victory kickstarted their year and was the first of a four-game winning streak.
But with the Crows only dropping two games they present a far greater challenge this season.
“They’ve been playing some great footy and have got some great players going through their midfield while Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett are probably in the top two or three forward combinations,” Grima said.
“We’re going to have our work cut out but we feel we’ve got a really good chance to win; we match up really well against Adelaide.”
Grima is set to spend time on both in-form power forwards Tippett and Walker and admits his team will be outsized, but said it won’t matter if they don’t stop Adelaide’s lethal midfield.
The Crows are ranked first in the league in contested possessions.
“If we can get the right pressure through the midfield and get on top there it will make the job a lot easier down back,” Grima said.
“If they really get their tails up and get going like they have in recent weeks and get a lot of ball inside 50 I don’t think it will matter too much who we play on.”
Despite only managing a narrow win over lowly Gold Coast last round, Grima, who is finally back to full fitness after missing the first seven rounds with a knee injury, said there were some positive signs.
“On the surface it didn’t look like we played that well but I think we are starting to do things a bit better in recent weeks.
“Against one of the top teams this week we are going to have to be good for four quarters which is a big challenge for our group.”
Grima said North needed to start playing the fast-moving football they’re capable of – proven in their round three win over premiers Geelong.
“Geelong was great but that feels like a lifetime ago now and it’s about time we stood up and put another good performance on the board,” he said.
North have recalled key-position player Lachie Hansen for his first game of the year and Liam Anthony for Levi Greenwood and Aaron Black.
Bernie Vince and Shaun McKernan come in for the Crows in place of Chris Knights and Josh Jenkins.